mind, in her naming; Anne had wavered between 'Abigail' and 'Zenobia' - and had settled it by loading the infant with both names. Anne had never mentioned the meanings of those names; presumably she did not know that he knew them.
Anne went on firmly, 'You're not fooling anyone but yourself; Jubal. Dorcas and Larry and I all know that Mike can take care of himself. and you ought to know it. But because you've been so frenetic about it-'
''Frenetic!' Me?'
'-Larry very quietly set up the stereo tank in his room and some one of us three had been catching the news, every broadcast. Not because we are worried, for we aren't - except about you. But when Mike gets into the news - and of course he does get into the news; he's still the Man from Mars - we know about it before those silly clippings ever reach you. I wish you would quit reading them.'
'How do you know anything about any clippings? I went to a lot of trouble to see that you didn't. I thought.'
'Boss,' she said in a tired voice, 'somebody has to dispose of the trash. Do you think Larry can't read?'
'So. That confounded oubliette hasn't worked right since Duke left. Damn it, nothing has!'
'All you have to do is to send word to Mike that you want Duke to come back - Duke will show up at once.'
'You know I can't do that.' It graveled him that what she said was almost certainly true - and the thought was followed by a sudden and bitter suspicion. 'Anne! Are you still here because Mike told you to stay?'
She answered promptly, 'I am here because I wish to be here.'
'Mmmm? not sure that's a responsive answer.'
'Jubal, sometimes I wish you were small enough to spank. May I finish what I was saying?'
'You have the floor.' Would any of them be here? Would Maryam have married Stinky and gone off to Beirut if Mike had not approved it? The name 'Fatima Michele' might be an acknowledgment of her adopted faith plus her husband's wish to compliment his closest friend - or it might be code almost as explicit as baby Abby's double name, one which stated that Mike was somewhat more than godfather to the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Mahmoud. If so, did Stinky wear his antlers unaware? Or with serene pride as Joseph was alleged to have done? Uh? but it must be concluded with utter certainty that Stinky knew the minutes of his houri; water brothership permitted not even diplomatic omission of any matter so important. If indeed it was important, which as a physician and agnostic Jubal doubted. But to them it would be - 'You aren't listening.'
'Sorry. Woolgathering.' - and stop it, you nasty old man? reading meanings into names that mothers give their children indeed! Next thing you'll be taking up numerology? then astrology? then spiritualism - until your senility has progressed so far that all there is left is custodial treatment for a hulk too dim-witted to discorporate in dignity. Go to locked drawer nine in the clinic, code 'Lethe' - and use at least two grains to be sure, although one is more than enough - 'There's no need for you to read those clippings, because we know the public news about Mike before you do - and Ben has given us a water promise to let us know any private news we need to know at once - and Mike of course knows this. But, Jubal, Mike can't be hurt. If you would only visit the Nest, as we three have done, you would know this.'
'I have never been invited.'
'We didn't have specific invitations, either; we just went. Nobody has to have an invitation to go to his own home? any more than they require invitations to come here. Like 'The Death of the Hired Man.' But you are just making excuses, Jubal, and poor ones - for Ben urged you to, and both Dawn and Duke sent word to you.'
'Mike hasn't invited me.'
'Boss, that Nest belongs to me and to you quite as much as it does to Mike. Mike is first among equals? as you are here. Is this Abby's home?'
'Happens,' he answered evenly, 'that title already vests in her with lifetime tenancy for me.' Jubal had changed his own will, knowing that Mike's will now made it unnecessary to provide for any water brother of Mike. But not being sure of the exact 'water' status of this nestling - save that she was usually wet - he had made redispositions in her favor and in favor of descendants, if any, of certain others. 'I hadn't intended to tell you, but there is no harm in your knowing.'
'Jubal? you've made me cry. And you've almost made me forget what I was saying. And I must say it. Mike would never hurry you, you know that. I grok he is waiting for fullness - and I grok that you are, too.'
'Mmmm? I grok you speak rightly.'
'All right. I think you are especially glum today simply because Mike has been arrested again. But that's happened many-'
''Arrested?' I hadn't heard about this! What goes on?' He added, 'Damn it, girl-'
'Jubal, Jubal! Ben hasn't called; that's all we need to know. You know how many times Mike has been arrested - in the army, as a carney, other places - half a dozen times as a preacher. He never hurts anybody; he just lets them do it. They can never convict him and he gets out as soon as he wishes - at once, if he wants to.'
'What is it this time?'
'Oh, the usual nonsense - public lewdness, statutory rape, conspiracy to defraud, keeping a disorderly house, contributing to the delinquency of minors, conspiracy to evade the state truancy laws-'
'Huh?'
'That involves their own nestlings' school. Their license to operate a parochial school was canceled; the kids still didn't go back to public school. No matter, Jubal - none of it matters. The one thing on which they are technically in violation of the law - and so are you, Boss darling - can't possibly be proved. Jubal, if you had ever seen the Temple and the Nest you would know that even the F.D.S. couldn't sneak a spy-eye into it. So relax. After a lot of publicity, charges will be dropped - and the crowds at the outer services will be bigger than ever.'
'Hmm! Anne, does Mike rig these persecutions himself?'
She looked startled, an expression her face was unused to. 'Why, I had never considered the possibility, Jubal. Mike can't lie, you know.'
'Does it involve lying? Suppose he planted perfectly true rumors about himself? But ones that can't be proved in court?'
'Do you think Michael would do that?'
'I don't know. I do know that the slickest way in the world to lie is to tell the right amount of truth at the right time - and then shut up. And it wouldn't be the first time that persecution has been courted for its headline value. All right, I'll dismiss it from my mind unless it turns out he can't handle it. Are you still 'Front'?'
'If you can refrain from chucking Abby under the chin and saying cootchy-coo and similar uncommercial noises, I'll fetch her. Otherwise I had better tell Dorcas to get up and get to work.'
'Bring in Abby. I'm going to make an honest effort to make some commercial noises - a brand-new plot, known as boy-meets-girl.'
'Say, that's a good one, Boss! I wonder why nobody ever thought of it before? Half a sec-' She hurried out.
Jubal did restrain himself - less than one minute of uncommercial noises and demonstrations, just enough to invoke Abigail's heavenly smile, cum dimples, then Anne settled back and let the infant nurse. 'Title:' he began. ''Girls Are Like Boys, Only More So.' Begin. Henry M. Haversham Fourth had been very carefully reared, He believed that there were only two kinds of girls: those in his presence and those who were not. He vastly preferred the latter sort, especially when they stayed that way. Paragraph. He had not been introduced to the young lady who fell into his lap, and he did not consider a common disaster as equivalent to a formal intro-' What the hell do you want? Can't you see I'm working?'
'Boss-' said Larry.
'Get out of that door, close it behind you, and-'
'Boss! Mike's church has burned down!'
They made a disorderly rout for Larry's room, Jubal a half length behind Larry at the turn, Anne with eleven pounds up closing rapidly despite her handicap. Dorcas trailed the field through being late out the starting gate; the racket wakened her.
'-midnight last night. What you are now viewing is what was the main entrance of the cult's temple, as it appeared immediately after the explosion. This is your Neighborly Newsman for New World Networks with your midmorning roundup. Stay switched to this pitch for dirt that's alert, And now a moment for your local sponsor-' The scene of destruction shimmered out and med-close shot of a lovely young housewife replaced, with dolly-in.
'Damn, Larry, unplug that contraption and wheel it into the study. Anne - no, Dorcas. Phone Ben.'
